The Political Science Oral History Program

scribed, or the transcriptions are
being corrected, at the present time.
The following is a list of these inter-
views, which should be available by
January, 1991: Vincent R. Browne,
James M. Burns, Gwendolyn Carter,

Robert A. Dahl, David Easton, Leon
Epstein, Heinz Eulau, Marian Irish,
Robert Martin, Warren Miller,
Louise Overaker, William Riker,
John Turner, Vernon Van Dyke, and
John Wahlke.

When additional interviews have
been completed and transcribed,
information about their availability
will be released, approximately once
a year, in PS.

NEH Projects Dealing with
Women and Politics Themes*

Kenneth Kolson, Deputy to the Director, Division of
Education Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities

I.
Overview of the NEH**

In order to "promote progress and
scholarship in the humanities and the
arts in the United States," Congress
passed the National foundation on
the Arts and Humanities Act of
1965. This act established the
National Endowment for the
Humanities as an independent grant-
making agency of the federal govern-
ment to support research, education,
and public programs in the
humanities. Grants are made through
five divisions—Education Programs,
Fellowships and Seminars, General
Programs, Research Programs, and
State Programs, and two offices, the
Office of Challenge Grants and the
Office of Preservation.

The staff of these divisions and
offices guide applications through a
peer review process to recommend
projects for funding. The final
responsibility for awards rests by law
with the Chairman of the Endow-
ment, who is appointed for a four-
year term by the President of the
United States, with the advice and
consent of the Senate. The Chairman
is advised by the National Council
on the Humanities, twenty-six distin-
guished private citizens who are also
nominated by the President and
confirmed by the Senate.

The Humanities

In the act that established the
National Endowment for the
Humanities, the term humanities
includes, but is not limited to, the
study of the following disciplines:
history; philosophy; languages;
linguistics; literature; archaeology;

jurisprudence; the history, theory,
and criticism of the arts; ethics;
comparative religion; and those
aspects of the social sciences that
employ historical or philosophical
approaches.

What the Endowment Supports

The National Endowment for the
Humanities supports exemplary work
to advance and disseminate knowl-
edge in all the disciplines of the
humanities. Endowment support is
intended to complement and assist
private and local efforts and to serve
as a catalyst to increase nonfederal
support for projects of high quality.

Although the activities funded by
the Endowment vary greatly in cost,
in the numbers of people involved,
and in their specific intents and
benefits, they all have in common
two requirements for funding:
significance to learning in the
humanities and excellence in
conception.

How Applications Are Evaluated

Generally, each application sub-
mitted to Endowment programs is
assessed by knowledgeable persons
outside the Endowment who are
asked for their judgments about the
quality of the proposed project.
Nearly 1,000 scholars and profession-
als in the humanities serve on
approximately 150 panels throughout
the course of a year. The judgment
of panelists is often supplemented by
individual reviews solicited from
specialists who have extensive knowl-
edge of the specific subject area dealt
with in the application. The Endow-
ment receives approximately 8,000

applications each year, of which
about 2,800 are funded. Our annual
budget is in the neighborhood of
$150 million, of which only about
15% is spent on administration.

Special Initiatives

The Foundations of American
Society. Within its existing programs,
the Endowment has encouraged
study, research, and discussion about
the history, culture, and principles of
the foundation period, an emphasis
that began with the NEH initiative
on the bicentennial of the U.S. Con-
stitution. Proposals may deal directly
with the events and achievements of
the founding period, including the
ratification of the Constitution, the
establishment of the federal govern-
ment, and the works of philosophy,
politics, literature, and art that were
produced during the founding
period. They may also treat later
events, achievements, and works that
have resulted or developed from the
founding period or that reflect or
respond to its concerns and
principles.

The Columbian Quincentenary. As
part of the international observance
of the 500th anniversary of
Christopher Columbus's voyage of
discovery to the New World, NEH
invites proposals for original scholar-
ship on related topics and for the
dissemination of both new and exist-
ing scholarship. Topics may include
the expansion of European civiliza-
tion through the efforts of the
Spanish and Portuguese crowns and
the establishment of new societies
and new forms of cultural expression
through encounters among native
American, European, and African

June 1990 199



The Profession

peoples. Proposals may also explore
the ideas—political, religious, philo-
sophical, scientific, technological,
and aesthetic—that shaped the
processes of exploration, settlement,
and cultural conflict and transforma-
tion set into motion by Columbus's
momentous voyage.

It is important to note that appli-
cations responding to special initia-
tives are not sequestered for review,
that is, they are not reviewed sepa-
rately or against special criteria. Nor
are these applications privileged in
any way. Thus, applicants are well
advised not to turn their projects
inside out in order to relate them to
an NEH initiative.

II.
The NEH and Political Science

Because the NEH (unlike, for
example, NSF) organizes its work
according to purpose and audience—
rather than by discipline—prospective
applicants should be guided by the
nature of their project when request-
ing guidelines and application
materials. For example, a political
scientist seeking time off from teach-
ing to prepare a scholarly manuscript
for publication should probably look
to the Division of Fellowships and
Seminars for support. Political scien-
tists wishing to hold a conference on
some aspect of women and politics
research would approach the Division
of Research Programs. Any kind of
auricular project or, say, a summer
institute on the Bill of Rights for
high school social studies teachers
would be brought to the Division of
Education Programs. Any member
of the Endowment staff can help
prospective applicants match their
projects with the appropriate
program officer.

Political scientists should proceed
with caution, however. While the
Endowment's purview extends to the
social sciences, our activities are con-
fined to those projects that are essen-
tially historical or philosophical.
Political philosophy has always
received generous support from the
Endowment. Illustrative grants might
include those awarded to Wilson
Carey McWilliams of Rutgers Uni-
versity in support of various projects
on the U.S. Constitution and the
topic of religion and politics. Richard
Flathman of The Johns Hopkins

University has led a summer seminar
on "Political Freedom," and David
L. Schaefer of Holy Cross has
directed several summer institutes for
schoolteachers on "Polis and Res
Publica." Arlene Saxonhouse of the
University of Michigan received
funding for a fellowship project
entitled "Unity and Diversity in
Greek Political Thought." Michael
Gillespie of Duke University received
support for "The Origins and Mean-
ing of Nihilism." That the National
Endowment for the Humanities
should put a premium on political
philosophy reflects the origins of our
discipline as well as legislative intent,
but one might argue that there is also
some rough justice in it, considering
that political philosophers are less
likely to be supported by other
sources to which political scientists
naturally turn—the National Science
Foundation, for example—for
funding.

In addition to political philosophy,
jurisprudence, which is specifically
mentioned in our enabling legisla-
tion, has also served as a gate
through which many political scien-
tists (e.g., Joel Grossman of the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin, Walter Murphy
of Princeton University, or Henry
Abraham of the University of
Virginia) pass. Even in this area,
however, explicit efforts by appli-
cants to connect proposal topics to
enduring humanities themes or texts
are to be encouraged. Proposals on
public law and jurisprudence topics
sometimes are less persuasive than
they need to be because their narra-
tives immerse the reader in case law
prematurely—that is, without first
showing that the topic at hand—
namely, the meaning of justice—has
concerned humanities scholars
continuously since the time of
Socrates.

Many political scientists, including
those whose professional reputations
have been based on empirical,
analytical scholarship, have found
that they can best render their proj-
ects competitive at the NEH by
adopting the approach of political
history. In recent summers, for
instance, college teacher seminars
have been offered by Sidney Tarrow
of Cornell University ("Historical
Studies of Collective Action and
Political Change") and by Stephen
T. Holmes of the University of

Chicago ("Origins and Development
of European Liberalism"). In 1989,
Bernard Brown of the City Univer-
sity of New York offered a summer
seminar, in situ, on "Modern French
Politics." Daniel Elazar of Temple
University has offered summer insti-
tutes designed for elementary and
secondary school teachers on the
subject of federalism. For some of
the political scientists participating in
these projects, the appeal of these
topics might well have lain primarily
in their contemporary significance.
But ahistorical grant proposals from
political scientists are not ordinarily
competitive at the NEH. Each of the
projects listed above was successful
as an NEH grant proposal in large
part because the historical dimen-
sions of the topic under considera-
tion were fully explicated in the
proposal narrative.

Many other "mainstream" politi-
cal scientists have had their work
supported by the Endowment. For
example, the Endowment has sup-
ported some of the research that
Fred I. Greenstein of Princeton Uni-
versity has conducted on leadership
in the modern American presidency.
Russell Hardin of the University of
Chicago is heading a collaborative
research project that compares demo-
cratic institutions throughout the
world. Aaron Wildavsky of the Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley, has
offered a summer seminar on "Polit-
ical Cultures." The Endowment is
not even allergic to numbers per se.
As a political scientist, I have taken
particular pleasure in encouraging my
more empirically-oriented colleagues
to cast their scholarship in terms that
relate to enduring humanities texts
and themes, and to express their
ideas in language that transcends the
merely technical or methodological.

All applicants, not just political
scientists, should bear in mind that
the Endowment will not fund "proj-
ects that advocate or promote a
particular political, ideological, reli-
gious, or partisan point of view."
This proscription does not require
that political scientists feign value
neutrality when they seek funding
from NEH. It does mean that proj-
ects must not be tendentious. Appli-
cants whose projects have direct im-
plications for public policy need to
take special pains to show that they
aim to advance learning, rather than

200 PS: Political Science & Politics



NEH Projects

merely raise consciousness.
Political scientists should under-

stand that their proposals will not
necessarily be reviewed by scholars in
their own discipline, let alone in their
particular area of sub-disciplinary
expertise. In general, the "discipli-
nariness" of the review will be deter-
mined by the number of proposals
that a grant program receives at a
particular deadline. For example, in
a high-volume program such as
Summer Stipends, it is easy (because
the number of applications is suffi-
ciently large) to justify convening a
separate panel to review proposals in
a particular discipline. Where the
number of applications is more
modest, several categories will some-
times be collapsed, resulting in
hybrid panels (e.g., political science,
jurisprudence, and economics).
Sometimes political science applica-
tions are reviewed with history
proposals. In the Division of Educa-
tion Programs, which receives a
fairly small number of applications,
many of which (e.g., a proposal to
reform the honors program at a
small liberal arts college, or a
proposal for a summer institute for
school teachers on the Italian
Renaissance) are intrinsically interdis-
ciplinary, applications always receive
a generalist review. Supplemental
review by specialists is sought when
needed, but there is no guarantee
that a political scientist's proposal to
the Education division will be read
by even one colleague in the field.
This need not be a disadvantage so
long as applicants understand that
they should cast their projects in
terms that colleagues in other disci-
plines can understand.

In many of the Endowment's
funding programs—the low-volume
programs, by and large—members of
the Endowment's professional staff
become deeply involved in the devel-
opment of applications. In those pro-
grams that offer such services staff
members are charged with helping
applicants make their proposals as
competitive as possible. Every review
process has its vagaries, of course,
and staff approbation is no guaran-
tee of success. But our records indi-
cate that those applications receiving
extensive staff work are more likely
to be funded. Pertinent here is the
testimony of Kathleen B. Jones, San
Diego State University, who has

offered two NEH summer seminars
for school teachers on "Authority,
Democracy, and the Citizenship of
Women":

In my own experience, submitting a
preliminary proposal and having an
experienced member of the staff
review it makes all the difference
between a successful proposal and one
that will be disregarded. When I
initially submitted my 1988 summer
seminar proposal I was told that I had
the germ of a good idea, but that it
was inappropriately presented. The
criticisms offered were extensive, pre-
cise, encouraging and supportive. I
went through at least two more revi-
sions (also reviewed), and then sub-
mitted a final proposal. This process,
which few are aware of or exploit,
should be emphasized.

III.
Recent NEH Support for

Women and Politics Research

Projects on the general topic of
women and politics are eligible in all
of the Endowment's divisions. The
purpose of the project and the audi-
ence to which it appeals will deter-
mine the program in which to make
application.

Whether it receives a disciplinary
review or a generalist review, a pro-
posal on women and politics will be
read against program criteria, which
will vary according to the nature of
the project (a conference, a seminar,
a curriculum project, a film, a trans-
lation, or whatever), but panelists
will in any event ask whether the
project is likely to yield a significant
contribution to learning in the
humanities. Because it will be com-
peting with worthy proposals from
other disciplines, a women and
politics proposal will have to appear
every bit as central to the humanities
as projects on, say, Buddhism or
Plutarch or Emily Dickenson. There
is no reason, of course, why this
should pose a problem. But it is an
argument for explicitness. Do not
assume that reviewers will automati-
cally concede the importance of your
topic for learning in the humanities.

Scholars working in the field will
be heartened to know that the
Endowment has made a substantial
investment in women and politics
scholarship. The titles listed below,

drawn from several divisions of the
NEH, reflect the range and breadth
of projects undertaken in this area.
All grants listed were made in fiscal
1988 or 1989.

Fellowships for University Teachers

Grants provide support for mem-
bers of the faculty of Ph.D.-granting
universities to undertake full-time
independent study and research in
the humanities.

Rachel G. Fuchs, Arizona State
University, "Charity and Welfare
for Mothers in 19th-century
Paris."

Joan G. Zimmerman, Howard
University, "Instrumentalism
versus Conceptualism in Drafting
the Equal Rights Amendments,
1905-23."

Fellowships for College Teachers
and Independent Scholars

Grants provide support for
teachers in two-year, four-year, and
five-year colleges and universities
that do not grant the Ph.D., and
also for independent scholars and
writers, to undertake full-time inde-
pendent study and research in the
humanities.

Robert C. Bannister, Swarthmore
College, "Women and the Social
Sciences in America, 1920-60."

Dolores E. Janiewski, Mount
Holyoke College, "The Politics of
Suffrage in the New South."

Mary Kelley, Dartmouth College,
"Achieving Authority: Women's
Entrance into Public Life in Early
America."

Carol Farley Kessler, Pennsylvania
State University, Delaware
Campus, "New Lives, New
Worlds: Utopian Novels by
American Women, 1836 to the
Present."

Alice S. Klak, Eastern Oregon
State College, "Graphics of the
Women's Suffrage Campaign."

Cheryl E. Martin, University of
Texas at El Paso, "Popular Atti-
tudes and Ideology in Northern
Mexico, 1650-1850."

Elaine M. Smith, Alabama State
University, "A Biography of

June 1990 201



The Profession

Mary McLeod Bethune."

Margaret Ann Strobel, University
of Illinois, Chicago, "Socialist
Feminism and Women's Unions in
the 1970s."

Summer Stipends

Grants in this category provide
support for college and university
teachers and others to undertake full-
time independent study and research
in the humanities for two consecutive
summer months. College and univer-
sity teachers must be nominated by
their institutions.

Lisa E. Emmerich, Kenyon
College, "Promoting Civilized
Motherhood: The Case of the
'Save the Babies' Campaign."

James Henderson, Valparaiso
University, "Equal Pay to Men
and Women for Equal Work: The
Early Debate, 1891-1923."

Mark E. Kann, University of
Southern California, "The Other
Liberal Tradition in Early
America: Civic Virtue and
Gender."

Susan E. Marshall, University of
Texas, Austin, "The American
Antisuffrage Movement,
1890-1930."

Thomas A. J. McGinn, Vanderbilt
University, "Prostitution and the
Law: The Formation of Social
Policy in Early Imperial Rome."

Robyn L. Muncy, Le Moyne Col-
lege, "Female Reformers and
Policymakers in the Progressive
Era, 1890-1930."

Kristen B. Neuschel, Duke Univer-
sity, "Gender Roles in the French
Aristocracy, 1550-1650."

Carolyn J. Stefanco, Wheaton
College, "Divided Loyalties: Nelly
Kinzie Gordon's Civil War."

Travel to Collections
These $750 grants help defray

travel costs, thereby enabling
scholars to study humanities
materials in libraries, archives,
museums, or other repositories.

Nancy Fix Anderson, Loyola Uni-
versity, New Orleans, "Annie
Besant and the Status of Women
in India: Anti-Imperialism versus

Human Rights."

Terry D. Bilhartz, Sam Houston
State University, "Anna Howard
Shaw and the Crusade for
Women's Rights."

Janet Farrell Brodie, California
State Polytechnic University,
"Women and Freethought in the
United States, 1820-1860."

Dorothy Sue Cobble, Rutgers Uni-
versity, "Waitresses: Their Work,
Culture, and Unions in the
Twentieth Century."

Susan P. Conner, Central Michi-
gan University, "Poverty and
Marginality: The Role of Prostitu-
tion in French Revolutionary
Social Control."

Esther S. Cope, University of
Nebraska, "A Woman Prophet's
Critique of English Politics and
Religion."

RaGena C. DeAragon, Gonzaga
University, "Aristocratic Widows
and the English Crown,
1066-1215."

Suzanne K. Engler, University of
Southern California, "Power and
Dependence: The Women of
Flowerdew Hundred Plantation."

J. Wayne Flynt, Auburn Univer-
sity, "Pattie R. Jacobs, Woman
Suffrage, and Southern Sectional-
ism."

Diana Greene, Alliance of Inde-
pendent Scholars, "Karolina
Pavlova and the Position of
Women in the 1840s."

Lisbeth M. Haas, University of
California, Santa Cruz, "Gender
and Political Identity in the
Barrios of Southwest, 1860-
1940."

June E. Hahner, SUNY at Al-
bany, "Women's Rights and Poli-
tics in Brazil, 1850-1940."

Claire Hirshfield, Pennsylvania
State University, Ogontz Campus,
"Women's Political Auxiliaries in
Late Victorian and Edwardian
England."

Carolyn C. Jones, Saint Louis
University, "The Price of Citizen-
ship: Women and Federal Taxa-
tion in 20th-century America."

Susan Lynn, University of
Missouri, Saint Louis, "Women
and Progressive Politics,
1945-65."

Martha H. Swain, Texas
Woman's University, "Ellen S.
Woodward: Southern Gentle-
woman and New Deal Official."

Gayle T. Tate, Indiana University,
"The Kin Keepers: Political
Philosophies of African-American
Women."

Carolyn E. Wedin, University of
Wisconsin, Whitewater, "Mary
White Ovington, Cofounder of
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People."

Younger Scholars
Grants provide support for high

school and college students to con-
duct research and writing projects in
the humanities for nine weeks during
the summer under the supervision of
a humanities scholar.

Sarah K. Flotten, Kenyon College,
"The Women's Suffrage Move-
ment in Minnesota, 1894-1923."

Mark W. Sabel, Swarthmore Col-
lege, "The Southern White
Woman as Activist in the Black
Civil Rights Movement."

Brande M. Stellings, Yale Univer-
sity, "Republican Ideology and
the Language of Early 19th-
century Working Women's
Protests."

Joan D. Wellman, University of
Kansas, "A Feminist Critique of
Plato's Republic."

Summer Seminars for
College Teachers

Grants provide support for schol-
ars of the humanities to direct
summer seminars at institutions with
collections suitable for advanced
study.

Karen Offen, Stanford University,
"The Woman Question in an Age
of Revolutions: Europe and
America, 1750-1880."

Summer Seminars for
School Teachers

Grants provide support for accom-
plished teachers and scholars to

202 PS: Political Science & Politics



NEH Projects

direct summer seminars at colleges,
universities, museums, libraries, and
similar institutions. Seminars are
usually organized around a close
reading of significant humanities
texts.

Kathleen B. Jones, San Diego
State University, "Authority,
Democracy, and the Citizenship of
Women: Hobbes, Locke, Rous-
seau, and Wollstonecraft."

Elisabeth I. Perry, Vanderbilt
University, "Feminist Classics in
American Culture, 1850-1930."

Research Editions

Grants support various stages in
the preparation of authoritative and
annotated editions of works and
documents of value to humanities
scholars and general readers.

Arlie R. Hochschild, University of
California, Berkeley, "The Emma
Goldman Papers."

Patricia G. Holland, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, "The
Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Susan B. Anthony."

Research Conferences

Grants support conferences de-
signed to advance the state of re-
search in a field or topic of major
importance in the humanities.

Noralee Frankel, American
Historical Association, "Confer-
ence on Women in the Progressive
Era, 1890-1925."

Humanities Projects in
Libraries and Archives

Grants assist museums, historical
organizations, and other similar cul-
tural institutions in the planning and
implementation of interpretive pro-
grams that use cultural and artistic
artifacts to convey and interpret the
humanities to the general public.

Eileen Dubin, Stockton State
College, "Women, War, and
Peace: The American Experience
in the 20th Century."

Barbara Matz, West Virginia

Women's Federation, "West
Virginia Women's Cultural
History Project."

Diantha Schull, The New York
Public Library, "Women as a
Force in United States History."

Public Humanities Projects
Grants support projects designed

to increase public understanding of
the humanities. Through this pro-
gram, the Endowment recognizes
exemplary public programs and pro-
motes model humanities projects of
potential national significance. Proj-
ect formats may include public
symposia, community fora, debates,
interpretive pamphlets, or audio-
visual materials.

Robert Maniquis, University of
California, Los Angeles,
"Humanities Program for the Bi-
centennial of the French Revolu-
tion."

Donald M. Rogers, University of
Hartford, "Extension of the Right
to Vote."

Gene Ruoff, University of Illinois
at Chicago, "Jane Addams' Hull-
House: Humanities Programs for
the Centennial.

Elementary and Secondary
Education in the Humanities

Cathryn Adamsky, University of
New Hampshire, "Women in
Nineteenth-Century American
Culture."

IV.
Conclusion

NEH reviewers do not take it for
granted that the research interests of
political scientists lie at the heart of
the heart of the humanities. They
must be persuaded. But political
scientists focusing on questions of
enduring interest to humanities
scholars—questions about the mean-
ing of justice, the tension between
liberty and equality, the requirements

of citizenship, the political status of
women, etc.—will find that they are
preaching to the choir. Such projects,
and those that adopt an essentially
historical approach to their subjects,
will continue to attract support from
the Endowment.

Without doubt, future funding
patterns will also reflect changing
scholarly interests and the develop-
ment of new topics, conceptual
frameworks, and methods of analy-
sis. As the project titles listed and
referred to in this essay reveal, the
humanities are vital and capacious-
capacious enough to extend from
Plato to NATO (or perhaps, given
my topic, from doting to voting, or
from Becky Thatcher to Margaret
Thatcher). We invite you to discuss
your ideas with us.

V.
NEH Directory

Division of Education Programs,
Room 302 202/786-0373

Division of Fellowships and Seminars,
Room 316 202/786-0458

Division of General Programs,
Room 426 202/786-0267

Division of Research Programs,
Room 318 202/786-0200

Division of State Programs,
Room 411 202/786-0254

Office of Challenge Grants,
Room 429 202/786-0361

Office of Preservation,
Room 802 202/786-0570

Office of Public Affairs,
Room 406 202/786-0438

National Endowment
for the Humanities

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20506

Notes
T h i s manuscript was originally prepared

for delivery at the meeting of the APSA Com-
mittee on the Status of Women Roundtable in
Atlanta, Georgia, September 1, 1989.

**This section consists of prose liberally
appropriated from Overview of Endowment
Programs, a general information booklet pre-
pared by the NEH Office of Publications and
Public Affairs.

June 1990 203